EVERETT — Jody Cain will employ the skills she uses as an art teacher when she talks with people attending the Schack Art Center’s free Fresh Paint: Festival of Artists at Work on Aug. 15 and 16 at the Port of Everett Marina.
All weekend, you can find Cain and 100 other artists selling art fresh off the easel in booths stretching along the marina walkway from Lombardi’s to Anthony’s.
“I know my teaching skills play a part because when my husband booth-sits for me, he doesn’t have the same amount of sales,” Cain said, with no offense to her spouse. “I can tell when people are interested and when they just need to be encouraged to ask a question about my art. Honing in on that and providing something interesting makes a big difference.”
Cain, 44, teaches art and technology at Lake Stevens Middle School, where her students like to artistically “alter” books by sculpting pages, making collage and painting in them.
“They get to do something they normally are not allowed to do,” Cain said. “The altered books are like art journals.”
Collage is a mixed-media art form dear to Cain.
“I love to make art that makes me feel good,” she said. “After I lost my grandma, I was introspective. I started playing with words, with text in my art. I found words of encouragement that other people finding encouraging, too.”
Cain paints on cheap, old hollow-core doors (“great on a teacher’s salary”) and is proud of the “up-cycle” aspect of the use of the doors as canvas. Discarded books, papers and even hand-written notes often are the first layer in her art.
“I like the look of that old penmanship, the kind my grandmother used,” she said.
Cain grew up in Sultan, taught herself to paint, graduated from Marysville Pilchuck High School, nearly got an associate’s degree at Everett Community College, raised four children, taught herself to weld, sold yard art, earned an education degree and a master’s degree in integrated art at Western Washington University. She is a National Board certified teacher.
“Fresh Paint is my favorite festival of the year because I really like that interaction with people, kids especially,” Cain said. “It’s not every day that you get that exposure to artists in action. And my favorite pieces are the ones I create each year at Fresh Paint.”
Cain made the art used in the festival poster this year.
“It was a stretch for me because the traditional poster is landscape or a portrait of an artist. But it needed to represent my art as well,” she said. “I thought about it a lot. The simple paint brush resonated with me. The sailboat, the mountains and the trees are part of the brush.”
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @galefiege.
If you go
Fresh Paint, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Aug. 15 and 16, Port of Everett Marina, 1700 W. Marine View Drive. Can’t find parking? Take the Route 6 bus from Everett Station to the waterfront. More information is at www.schack.org.
Glassblowing demonstrations will be ongoing at the Schack’s Mobile Hot Shop during the festival, and on Saturday morning the Fresh Paint Float Find is staged on Jetty Island. Kick off your shoes and walk the sandy shore in search of a glass sea float made at the Schack Art Center. To make Jetty Island ferry reservations, call 425-257-8304. If you don’t have time for the treasure hunt, stop by the Schack Art Center, 2921 Hoyt Ave., Everett, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday to blow your own glass float in the hot shop. Regular fees apply.
Fresh Paint organizers have scheduled music on two stages during festival, and on Sunday, the Everett Farmers Market adds even more color to the festivities.
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